The Pathfinder and the Hunters of the Grimm
by Arthur Hansen
Summary: A real Golden World? With that moon shattered by the Scourge, it might be a bit dangerous. But hopefully the natives are friendly.


Daria Ryder stood at the helm of the Tempest. "All right; Kallo, Suvi? Where did we end up this time after dodging the Kett?"

"This is an unknown system close to the Zheng He and the Nexus. It appears that path through the Scourge diverges further than we thought," Suvi, the Tempest's science and sensor operator, said in her soft brogue as she read her instruments with casual ease.

"Okay then. Let's do a quick survey of the system's five planets and the asteroid field. And take a look at that shattered moon."

Hours later after they sent a probe to scan the snarl of the Scourge within of the shattered moon, they finally approached the 'garden world'. The planet sat deep within a snarl of the Scourge, but itself seemed undamaged, unlike Habitat-7.

"Amazing. Gravity at 1.01 Earth standard, with an almost perfect nitrogen-oxygen-carbondioxide atmosphere. Picking up chlorophyll plant life. And some very weird energy reading for the atmosphere. I've never seen anything like this-" Suvi said, only to be cut off by the other bridge crew.

"I'm picking up short range AM radio signals," the Salarian pilot called out. "Simple digital signals, unknown language."

"Narrow the focus and find the largest source and/or population center," Ryder called out, excitement almost bursting out through her tone of voice.

It took a few minutes, then Suvi came back with her findings. "The central continent on the equator has two major areas. Picking up signs of industrialization and electrical ionization. No Eezo detected," she called out. "The northernmost location appears to be slightly larger."

"None? How about any satellites in orbit?" Ryder demanded. She hated feeling out of her element here on the bridge of a starship.

"None. Not one single satellite," Kallo called back.

"Could they be pre-spaceflight?" the Pathfinder asked.

"Possible. Without Eezo, they could only have chemical rockets," Suvi replied. "The Scourge in orbit would hinder spaceflight development, too."

Daria bit her lip, thinking hard. "SAM, any luck with decoding their language?"

"It will take a little while. It would be faster while observing the natives and their biological signals directly," the A.I. said over the coms.

She tapped a button on her abbreviated command console. "This is the Pathfinder. We are now going to attempt a possible first contact situation with a pre-spaceflight civilization. Peebee, Cora; prepare for a ground mission. Kallo, find us a spot just out of sight of that main capital."

"Breaking orbit and heading to the LZ," the Salarian called out.

"This is so exciting," Suvi said.

The main door to the bridge opened behind them with a hiss-clunk. Cora and Peebee both walked in to stand about ten feet behind Daria.

"So thirty-three percent chance of a hostile meeting, right?" Peebee asked the human biotic.

"Are you trying to goad me into some sort of reactions?" Cora asked the Asari.

"Moi? Not at all!" the impish monogendered alien said.

"I'm picking up fighter-sized returns in the air. Organic, though, like Havaril," Kallo said in his clipped tone. The Salarian blinked his liquid black eyes as he studied his instrument.

"We are headed towards the largest city," Suvi called out.

"Is that two girls on the back of that giant... raven? What the hell?" Daria shouted in surprise.

"That is not a raven," SAM said. "It looks like it superficially, but has extra bony plates and has a wingspan in excess of fifteen meters."

"They look like they are in trouble. Kallo, match speed and get behind it. Suvi, drop the kinetic barrier." Daria turned around to her squadmates. "Follow me topside."

"We have roof access? Why does no one tell me these things?" Peebee asked as they entered the staging room before the airlock, right off the bridge.

Part of the wall moved back as a panel opened in the roof. Howling wind tore at Daria as she climbed the ladder. She held onto the ladder's hand rail sticking out the top of the ship and slammed her mag-boots down, walking against the wind.

"It's not alright!" Weiss screamed at her new partner as she hung on for dear life on the back of the giant nevermore.

"It'll be fine," Ruby shouted and then let go.

The nevermore turned its head to look at the strange flying machine behind it. It checked it carefully as it moved its head carefully to keep flying straight.

Weiss looked down and stared at the very empty spot where her partner no longer hung on.

"Oh, shit!" Daria shouted as her pilot zigged and moved the large ship so that it now flew forward against the top surface.

Ruby hit the top of the starship's armor with an oomph. She skidded along and started to tumble when a glowing blue energy wall appeared behind her to stop her motion. An armored gauntlet grabbed her as the field flickered and disappeared.

"Who are you?" Ruby shouted.

The response she got made not a lick of sense, not being in the common tongue of Remnant.

"Huh?"

Weiss almost missed the starship before the blonde woman in the skin tight outfit created another biotic barrier for her to slam up against.

Peebee called out something the natives again did not understand she leaped up and grabbed Weiss around her stomach and slapped back down for her mag boots to catch hold.

"Are you a faunus?" Weiss blurted out, seeing the blue skin and tentacles on her head.

"Faunus?" Peebee said, mouthing the one word that SAM had translated for her,

The nevermore slowed down to fall behind the starship and readied to unleash its feather attack. With no weapons visible, the monster felt comfortable attacking the large machine.

"What the $ # is #% !$?" Daria said, her omni-tool translating for the benefit of the natives.

"Nevermore. Is it getting ready to do attack?" Weiss asked as she held onto the blue woman.

Daria and SAM shouted at the same time, "SHIELDS!"

Daria and Cora both held up their free hands, creating yet another, larger blue energy field just in time to protect the front side of the starship. With a flap of its wings, a swarm of feathers shot out impossibly as darts or spears. The armor blocked almost all of the hits and the biotic barrier totally stopped it from damaging the front of the ship.

"Blast it out of the sky," the Pathfinder shouted out as she raised her pistol while holding onto the girl in the red cloak.

"Right!" Ruby replied as her weapon unfolded into its sniper configuration.

Weiss pulled out her saber and blasted out white energy as the other two visitors pulled out their pistols.

"Get us on the ground," Daria ordered the pilot across the coms. "All combatants, grab your gear and head to the ramp."

The Tempest turned carefully, heading towards the closest major open area. Yang, Blake, Nora and Ren all stared at the impossible ship as it blared down to the ground.

"Dammit," Kallo said as the landing gear and ramp hit ground. "There were people in the landing zone!"

Daria frowned as she set the teen down on the armor plating and watched the skies warily. "Are they injured?"

"We'll need to scan them for radiation exposure," Suvi explained as she looked over at the pilot across the bridge.

Metal boomed in rhythm as twelve hundred pounds of Krogan ran down the massive ramp. "Where's the fight?" he demanded.

Yang stared at the thing. "What the hell is that?"

Blake just blinked even as she brought out her own weapon. "I don't know."

More aliens and a normal looking black guy wearing a bright white outfit followed the krogan.

"Yo!"

Vetra, a female turian, scanned the area with her rifle. "Giant scorpion, ten o'clock!"

"Charging up," Jaal called out even as Liam rushed forward on his boosters, arcing through the air to slam into a pincer.

Pyrrha skidded to the side, spear and shield at the ready as Drack ran buy, readying his massive kinetic enhanced hammer. He put his whole body behind the attack and slammed it home on the death stalker's face in front of him.

"You have go to be shitting me. Tougher than a fiend?" the krogan complained. He grunted in pain as the grimm tried to cut him in half with its pincers. Krogan armor could take that, though.

"Get off of him!" Yang shouted, charging in and punch-blasting away with her shotgun gauntlets at the joint.

The deathstalker released him just in time for his equivalent of adrenaline to kick in. With a bloodcurdling roar, he started to hammer down on the armor of grimm with his massive krogan warhammer.

"That giant raven thing is coming back around," Cora shouted as she started to raise another barrier.

Vetra tried firing at weak spots. "I hate fighting animals. No tech to disrupt," she said as she activated her forcefield tech armor.

The deathstalker stabbed out with its stinger, shattering the newly created armor that attracted its attention due to the blue-white glow. Yang went 'oof' as the left pincer backhanded her thirty feet and she skidded to a halt.

"Oooh, tough guy, huh?" Yang said as her hair started to glow as Drack rolled past her in a tangle of limbs from his own hit.

Drack rolled back to his feet as the blonde human girl charged in and started punching the giant scorpion with explosions. Somehow. "Heh. I like you." With another roar, he charged into the fray. No little human would show him up.

"I'm going to do something stupid," Ryder shouted out as she crouched down.

"I wouldn't advise that," the other human biotic called out.

Too late, as the tightly focused biotic field displaced her to land on the nevermore's wing. She slammed her Asari styled sword in a massive, nova explosion of power, sending the bird tumbling to the ground.

"Whoa! That was so cool!" Ruby shouted out. "Attack it before it can take off!" In a burst of rose petals, she streaked across the four hundred feet and hit the grimm's neck with her extended scythe.

"I was going to say that," Weiss said in complaint as she activated a glyph and shot after her partner.

Pyrrha reverted her rifle back to its sword form. "Come on, Jaune. There are too many hunters around the deathstalker."

"Uh, sure," the very unprepared boy said against all common sense.

"Ren! Hurry up!" Nora shouted as she shifted her grenade launcher to its hammer form.

Jaal fired his sniper rifle, taking out one of the deathstalker's larger eyes. He could feel some sort of malice from the creature.

"My pea shooter isn't hurting it," Peebee shouted as she tried to fry its nervous system with one of her overloads.

Blake leaped away, leaving one of her images behind. "We need to break through its armor with a bigger attack."

"I got this," Drack called out as he charged between the massive pincers and let the stinger scrape off his crest. His armored form crashed into the deathstalker's mouth pincers. "Eat this!" He then jammed a high explosive grenade into its mouth and let go. "See you in hell!"

Drack and the deathstalker stood at ground zero as the eezo enhanced grenade as it went off. Bits and pieces of the deathstalker's innards landed as far as a hundred feet away. The krogan landed twenty feet away onto his back, the front of his armor scorched and blackened.

"Khleck-heh. Heh. I did... it..."

"DRACK!" Liam shouted. "Medic! Oh, shit. We need a lot of medigel-"

"Stop! Kughk," his voice drifted off into a coughing fit. "Hehe. Think I lost two of my last lungs." He spat out some reddish-orange fluids onto the ground. "Wanted to die in battle. Too old... too wounded."

"Why did you charge in with your Aura depleted?" Yang shouted.

Liam shared a quick, confused look with Jaal and Peebee "What do you mean about his Aura being depleted? Did you mean kinetic barrier?" Liam asked.

"No, your Aura. You know, the manifestation of your soul," Blake explained as she watched the other battle and then another blue alien racing down the ramp with a large bag in her hands.

"Kid-" Cough, cough. "-kid, I don't even know if I got a soul."

"Wow, you guys fight things without your Aura? Badass!" Yang said.

"Move!" Lexxi ordered as stopped next to the wounded Krogan. She brought up her omnitool, accessing his armor's biometrics. "This is bad. He's only got one lung left that's working. He's out of redundancy. I- I don't think I can do anything." The asari doctor looked devastated at pronouncing the news.

"Do you want to live?" Blake asked the krogan.

Drack blinked his one working eye. "Yeah, but... I'm okay... if I don't."

The black and white garbed student put her hand upon his crest. And started glowing. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. And through this, we become the paragon of virtue and heroism and to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul to stand by my shoulder in protection," Blake said in total sincerity.

And Drack started to glow a soft yellow. His one remaining eye snapped open. "What the frag was that?" he demanded.

"Goddess," Lexxi said as she saw the krogan's wounds healing at an impossible speed.

"Whoa, he's got tons of Aura," Yang said.

Across the shattered meadow, the other team continued to attack and keep the nevermore on the ground.

"How long can you maintain that drop?" Daria asked Cora.

The inverted lift kept the bird on the ground for now.

"Not long!" the asari-trained human biotic called out.

"Pyrrha, I'm going to be a nail, can you hammer from above?" Ruby shouted as she charged back towards the head of the nevermore.

"Yes!" she replied.

Jaune followed her in, using his shield to block the bird from pecking them. This is so stupid. This is so stupid, he repeated over and over to himself mentally.

Pyrrha turned to the two alien humans (did that even make sense?) "How high can you throw me?"

"Pretty high," Daria said as she skidded to the ground and laid on her back.

Weiss narrowed her eyes and nodded to herself. She sent out a burst of ice to freeze the nevermore's beak to the ground for just a few moments. And left its neck hanging out to cut.

"This might sting," Daria called out from under Pyrrha, sending out a longer pulse of her throw and threw the gladiator high up into the air.

"Haaaaa!" Pyrrha changed her arc slightly with a pulse of black to put her on a direct course.

"Hya!" Ruby shouted, whirling around to slam her scythe down on the neck of the nevermore just as the ice started to crack.

Pyrrha smashed onto the back of the scythe with her black-aura covered fist.

And with a boom, cut the head of the nevermore off and imbedded the scythe's blade into the earth up to the shaft.

"Ow. I think I broke a couple of fingers with that stunt," Pyrrha said in her stoic tone of voice. She shook her hand gingerly

Cora collapsed to one knee. "Couldn't hold that any longer," the biotic said.

Daria looked over at her crew member. "I didn't even know you could even do that. But for now, everyone inside."

* * *

Ruby looked around the... cargo hold? The six wheeled vehicle looked neat and fun with it's gold plating and designs. "We're really on a spaceship, aren't we?" she asked her sister.

"Ayup." Yang tried to look unfazed by the situation, but did not quite succeed.

"Um, not that this isn't nice, but aren't we in the middle of the initiation?" Jaune asked the girls.

Ren looked over. "This is more important. Even if we don't graduate, this is history making here."

"Ooh. I wonder if they have pancakes?" Nora asked.

"If SAM translated that correctly; yes, we do. I'm Daria Ryder, Pathfinder for the Andromeda Initiative and this is my most of my crew," the dark skinned woman said.

"Thank you for saving us," Weiss said. "Are- Are you really from another world?" She stared at the krogan, turian and asari in undisguised curiosity.

"Yes, we are," Daria said, holding up her hand to forestall too much information and confusing them. "So your people have tried to get into space?"

"Yeah, but it hasn't worked well. Something about Dust not working in space, so the rockets quit working," Jaune said. He then turned embarrassed as everyone looked at him.

"I'm sorry, did you say... Dust? What does dry, powdery dirt have to do with rockets?" the captain of the Tempest asked.

"No, Dust. The power of the elements in crystallized or powdered form," Weiss corrected.

"Um, do you have a sample we can scan?" Daria asked as the rest of the crew, even Drack, watched on with curiosity.

The heiress held up her revolver-rapier. "This has ice, lightning, fire and wind dust loaded."

"Error, unable to scan. High resolution scanning equipment required."

"Whoa. That hasn't happened before." Daria turned and talked to the air. "Kanno, get us in the air."

"Ryder, Gil states that some of the damage breached the armor in the engine room and cargo bay. We can't leave atmosphere at this time," the salarian said from his seat at the front of the ship.

"We don't have to go into orbit to go to that city. Find us a landing place closer to that city than here," she ordered.

"Ooh! How about parking on the cliff's edge where the airships and bullheads land?" Ruby offered, still following the pathfinder and leading the seven other students.

"I've got it," Suvi called out. "It's big enough and should be sturdy enough."

The Tempest roared into the air and then almost coasted over the forest and past the school.

"Um, does anyone have the number for someone at the school?" Ruby asked the other students as she pulled out her scroll.

"I do," Pyrrha said as she pulled out her own scroll. "I'll try to call Ms. Goodwitch." The scroll rang audibly. "Hello, Ms. Goodwitch? This is Pyrrha Nikos. I'm sure you saw the airship that picked us up." Pyrrha waited a second, listening to the teacher. "They say they aren't from Remnant. And considering a few of their crew are not human or faunus, I think I believe them. We just landed in front of Beacon by the airship platforms." She nodded, then disconnected.

Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to explain.

"A teacher is going to show up to meet us as soon as possible," Pyrrha explained.

Daria frowned as she thought over the logistics and protocols. "Do you mind if we scan you guys? It's rather unbelievable that you look so similar to us, considering how far away we've traveled."

"I did wonder at that," Weiss said.

Ruby noted slow movement at the back of the group as Blake stood behind Yang as casually as possible. She turned to the Pathfinder. "Sure, I'm okay. But not everyone may want you to do it though."

The captain of the ship nodded, activating her omnitool's scanning mode. "We probably only need to scan a few of you. So just raise your hand- Okay, we'll start with you, Miss Red Hood."

"I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose," the youngest girl present said.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Rose," she replied.

"According to my scans, Miss Rose is human out to three decimal places, but does not match mitochondrial ancestry data. So if they are in fact as human as we see, they were separated by longer than fifty thousand years," SAM said from the overhead speakers. "More scan may assist us in determining this."

On their private channel, Sam continued with, "May I suggest that the volunteers be scanned by Lexi in the sick bay in privacy? I believe the girl in black and white may be a faunus, but does not wish to have this discovered."

Daria nodded. "Well, I'm needed on the bridge. If you don't mind, go through that door over the and the first door on your right so that we can use the medical scanners." She smiled at them. "A little more private than the middle of the cargo hold. Cora, if you could accompany them and play host?"

"Of course."

The Pathfinder headed to the ladder to climb up to the second level.

"See you guys in a few," Ruby said, following Daria towards the front of the ship. It quite impressed her with all the hologram screens

"We'll be setting down in just a few moments," the salarian pilot said.

"Good. Then we'll need to send someone outside to verify the damage and repair the armor." Daria walked up to her position at the very, very front of the ship. She then looked over at the girl following her. "So what are those things. You called them the Grimm?"

"Uh, yeah. They just are. Soulless monsters that want to destroy [humanity]," Ruby explained. "Always changing, always murderous as my dad says."

"And you know they are soulless because...?" Suvi, the auburn-haired scientist asked in her brogue.

"Because we have Aura and so do any animals, but the Grimm don't." Ruby closed her eyes and then started to glow for a second. "You can't reason with them and they hate us. And they never end."

"You can't exterminate them? You've tried?" Suvi asked in a mildly disapproving tone of voice.

"We haven't ever found out what they are or where they come from, really. Even after hundreds of years of them destroying kingdoms. They don't breed, they don't eat and they turn into ash and disappear." Ruby gave them a shrug.

"Shit," Daria said, eyes wide as she looked over her shoulder at Ruby. "Another deathly 'golden world'."

"Huh?" Ruby said in eloquent ignorance.

"We're explorers, looking for worlds to colonize. Your world looked the most liveable out of all of them. But death-monsters trying to kill us isn't very good," Daria explained.

Ruby watched the (lizard guy?) Kallo land the large airship near the landing pads.

* * *

Blake made sure to be the last to get 'examined' by this Lexi. "I'm not sure I feel comfortable letting you scan me," she said.

Lexi gave her best smile, but failed to reassure the younger woman. "I need at least a baseline and to check for possible pathogens. It's for the safety of the crew and your world. We didn't exactly follow quarantine procedures due to the combat situation."

"But that woman said we didn't have to be scanned," Blake protested in a flat tone of voice.

"The Andromeda Initiative requires its doctors to take oaths to protect the privacy of their patients. So unless you have a life threatening illness that would endanger you and those around, Sam and I would not divulge any secrets," Lexi explained as she quickly made sure that Drack rested unconscious on his medical bed.

"So you won't tell the others that I am a faunus?" the local asked.

"No, I wouldn't. Well, if I can even tell what the difference is."

"Faunus are discriminated against by humans for our animal features." Blake reached up and untied her bow to reveal her ears.

"My word, that's interesting. Why do you have your normal simian ears if you have those lovely Earth feline ears?" the doctor said as she scanned the girl.

"Earth feline? I mean, yes I have cat ears."

"Yes, a cat from Earth. The home of the humans from the Milky Way," Lexi explained. She turned and scanned Drack with a hunch.

"The Milky Way?" Blake asked, furrowing her eyes as she watched her scan the krogan.

"The Milky Way galaxy. We traveled fifty million light years to explore and find a new home. The first extra-galactic colonization mission. Interesting, Drack now has the same small genetic deviation that the people of your world have. How can giving him an aura do that?"

"I don't know. It's just something we've been able to do since the earliest records. Even with Aura, the Grimm were going to wipe us out until we discovered Dust and began using it to fight them," Blake explained, watching the doctor as she examined her scan on a large screen.

"How long ago was that?" Lexi asked.

"Over five hundred years ago? Records from before that are scattered," the faunus explained.

On the overhead, Daria's voice came on. "Peebee, Cora and our visitors'; come to the cargo bay. We are disembarking."

"I have to go. Remember, don't tell anyone that I'm a faunus. Especially the girl wearing the white and blue dress." Blake tied her bow back on and went to the door, which opened in front of her.

Drack opened his eyes. "Damn interesting, huh doc?"

"What? You were out- You faked it?"

The krogan sat up. "Useful trick at times. I haven't used it in four hundred years though. I'm leaving unless you tell me I'll die."

"No, but we need to adjust your cybernetics to account for your increased vitals. How do you feel?" the asari doctor asked.

"Better than I have since that bag of grenades. Might have a few more decades left in me," he replied with a big, mean grin on his inhuman face.

He stepped out and walked to the cargo hold and walked quietly up behind Ryder and the young natives.

Down at the bottom of the ramp stood a thin man with round glasses. "You didn't mention the very large alien," the teacher said as he looked behind the main group.

"Drack?" Daria asked, startled by how quiet he walked up to them.

"I want to ask questions about this Aura thing I have now. So I'm coming," the krogan said as he walked past his crewmates, ignoring the state of his armor.

Cora took offense at that. "This is a delicate matter negotiating a first contact with a new species and planet," she said, looking upset.

Daria put her hand on the other woman's shoulder. "Cora, he's got a stake. I thought he was sleeping, so I excluded him," the Pathfinder said.

The blonde biotic looked at her, then sighed and nodded.

"Aw, that was adorable!" Peebee exclaimed, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Ahem. I am Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck of Beacon Academy. I have to say that is an amazing airship. No, wait, it's a spaceship as it flies in outer space!" the fast talking teacher said all in one breath.

"Actually, the term for an interstellar ship is starship. Nice to meet you, Dr. Oobleck. My name is Daria Ryder, Pathfinder of the Andromeda Initiative. This is some of my team; Cora, Peebee and Drack." Daria shook his hand. "So I suspect you don't speak for your government?"

"Astute and correct. Vale's Council of Representatives is being summoned right this moment. Headmaster Ozpin has offered to host the meeting at Beacon. It should only take an hour or so for airships to bring them here. If you will all accompany me? Yes, that does include you students with your very unorthodox strategy."

Drack looked at all of Beacon Academy. "Fancy and low tech. Huh."

Headmaster Ozpin stood at the doorway to the conference room inside the academy. "Thank you, Dr. Oobleck. As for the eight of you, head to the auditorium for your team assignments." He turned to the heavily armored pathfinder. "Come in. The Council of Vale is on its way."

* * *

"-Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee; you are now Team RANS led by Ruby Rose," Glynda Goodwitch said, slurring the team name to sound more like 'rain'.

Weis just blinked in abject surprise as neither Pyrrha nor herself became leader of their team, but the dolt... that led them all to defeat the giant nevermore with a quickly thought out plan. Her father is going to be furious.

"I'm leader?" Ruby asked, blinking furiously.

"Congratulations, Ruby," Pyrrha said with more than a hint of relief.

"Yeah, congrats," Jaune said, patting her on the back.

"Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren as Team BYRN and led by Black Belladonna," the teacher continued. She looked over the auditorium, commanding silence.

All of the students came to a quiet attention.

"Headmaster Ozpin would say something about how he sees people that expect to be Hunters. I will be blunt, you are not Hunters yet. Do not think of yourself as strong. This is but another, new path of hard work and dedication before you can consider yourself novice Hunters to defend the people of Remnant against the threats that besiege us. Good evening. Classes start sharply at eight o'clock."

Glynda watched the crowd start to disperse into their teams. She turned and walked down the hall, her heels clicking on the marble floor. She opened the door to the main conference room quietly.

"-suggest that we move this to your starship so that we can talk through your ship so that we can talk to your leadership directly," a deep male voice said.

Dover Davis sat in between his fellow councillors.

"I don't see a problem with that. We'd ask that you leave any weapons at the airlock for our own security's sake," Daria said. "Shall we walk there now?"

Everyone nodded and stood up. The Pathfinder blinked as she remembered something. "Oh, you may want to have your own food delivered. While we have food that might work, it's safer this way until we test things out."

Ozpin chuckled at that. "I'll have the cafeteria deliver lunch."

The headmaster kept the conversation to a minimum as they walked up the ramp and into the ship. "So how long will you stay here on Remnant?"

"That name still throws me off, considering all the remains of a precursor race we've been calling the Remnant." Daria chuckled at that. "We should also talk about the state of the Helios Cluster at some point."

"Oh? How important is that?" Dr. Oobleck asked as they walked up the curving ramp to the meeting room at the very top of the ship.

"Considering the Khet invasion, potentially very important. The Archon has been attacking anyone and everyone with his fleet of cruisers." Daria stopped here, wondering if she should tell them. "What he does to the people he captures is worse than death."

Ozpin stood across the meeting room table. "That's a tall claim."

Jaal stepped out of the shadow. "Ashdel-human, he entrances them and then genetically turns them into the foot soldiers of the Khet, the 'Exalted'. We only recently learned that he has been doing this to the Angarians for over eighty years."

The headmaster looked over at the councillors. "That does in fact sound worse than death."

"Are you seeking military aid from us? Because each of the four kingdoms would not want to send their soldiers or hunters far away from home. The threat of the Grimm can not be underestimated," Armstrong said, getting a nod from the other councillors.

"We're not, really. We'd appreciate even just having a place to send our people to get some sunshine and walk on green grass. And we would pay for this. Perhaps with barter to begin with, but we can work out an exchange for our credits as time goes on. We want to be a good neighbor," Daria explained. "Not that we would turn down any military aid."

"We did notice your airships, but they don't appear to use Mass Effect fields to lift them. How do they work?" Peebee asked curiously.

"Wind and gravity Dust, for the most part," Jasmine Lee, the female councillor, explained. "Very efficient compared to thrusters like our Bullpups use. Gravity Dust is the most common, low quality Dust crystal."

"Interesting. How large does it scale?" the Pathfinder asked.

"Quite large. The Vytal Festival stadium is built on the same principal and it's larger than Atlas's 700 meter long carrier-cruisers." Ozpin tapped the glass section of the conference room table. "Would your people be willing to teach us how to get into space?"

"I can't see why not, eventually." Daria held up a hand. "We would just want to make sure that you are ready and capable to use it responsibly."

"Quite reasonable," Dover stated as he leaned over the edge of the round table. "How long will you be on the planet?"

Daria looked up. "Gil? How long for repairs?"

"At least twenty-four hours. I never expected to have a bird shove its feathers up our ass," the engineer said from the back of the ship. "Pardon my French."

That caused a chuckle from the visitors.

"Sir, I have Director Tam of the Initiative ready to come on the communication channel," SAM said.

"Do it," Daria ordered.

The mono-colored hologram in blue-white appeared, showing the salarian leader of the Andromeda Initiative. "Hello, council and leaders of Vale. I am Director Jarun Tam, director of the Andromeda Initiative. Thank you for allowing me to speak with you today."

They all nodded as Dover started to introduce people on his side of the table.


End file.
